The Benefits of a Vegetable Garden

Healthy eating starts in your own backyard.

By Mary Jo DiLonardo

“To be truly organic, you have to buy organic seed and have a two-year process of cleansing the soil. If you use compost, you have to buy organic bananas to be able to put the skins in your compost pile,” she says. “Most families aren’t growing a truly organic garden, but they can grow an earth-friendly garden.”

And the fruits (and vegetables) of that labor often taste much better than what comes from your neighborhood supermarket. “There’s nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables. And you’re going to eat more of them if they’re right there in the backyard.”

Smart Gardening:

To save your joints, use lightweight Styrofoam or plastic pots for your garden. If they’re big, fill them 1/3 full with Styrofoam peanuts, which will help with drainage and reduce their weight.

Consider raised beds, containers or planting tables to reduce the stress on your knees when digging and weeding.

Grow the varieties from seed that are the most expensive to buy, such as the fancy lettuces (arugula, rainbow chard), heirloom tomatoes and squashes and baby zucchini.

If critters take a liking to your crops, drape netting over your plants to try to keep them out.

Call your county extension office or visit their Web site for information specific to your area, such as optimal planting times, easiest-to-grow crops and watering restrictions, if any.

Easy Crops:

Vegetables and herbs that are fun to grow and produce a good yield, from best-selling author, PBS host and "Today Show" garden expert P. Allen Smith:

Leaf lettuce. My favorites are Buttercrunch and Salad Bowl.

Radishes. There are lots of varieties – I like Cherry Belle.

Green onions. Start from onions plants larger than a dime in diameter.

Cherry tomatoes. The plants are compact and the tomatoes are tasty.

Green peppers. You’ll save lots of money growing your own.

Bush green beans. You’ll get big yields from small plants.

Herbs. Basil, thyme, oregano and chives are great.

With a growing hunger for both eating healthy and saving money, more and more Americans are grabbing their spades and starting their own vegetable gardens. Even the first family has caught the gardening bug. Michelle Obama has turned part of the South Lawn into a veggie patch with plans to grow everything from spinach to tomatillos.

Why the renewed interest in backyard produce?

Better-tasting food and saving money on food bills are the top two reasons people give for growing their own goodies, according to the National Gardening Association. This year, some 43 million U.S. households plan to grow fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs – up 19 percent from last year.

Walt Yates of Greenwood, S.C.-based Park Seed Company has seen the lettuce love. Vegetable seed sales have increased over the past two years and the 141-year-old seed company credits a yen for safer food, saving money and nostalgia.

“Many people fondly remember working in the garden with their parents or grandparents and they want their families to have that same rich experience,” he says. “This is why many seniors and parents have started gardening with their children and grandchildren. Also, even the pickiest kids will eat veggies that they help grow themselves.”

Mary Soroka of Clifton N.J., knows that firsthand. She tills a backyard vegetable garden with her daughter, Catiana, and watches the 9-year-old eat food right out of the yard when playing with her friends.

“She knows whatever she picks out of there she can just eat,” she says. “I’m trying to teach my daughter to use natural resources. I don't necessarily trust how produce is handled, even if it's organic.”

Soroka also figures she saves as much as $25 a week on produce because, in season, she harvests tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, three kinds of lettuce, beans and herbs parsley, basil, peppermint and grapes from her 2-foot-by-15-foot garden.

“If I have any extra room to plant anything, I make sure it’s edible like blueberries, strawberries or grapes,” she says. “If I had the money, I would have a small greenhouse built in my yard so that I would be able to grow year-round.”

“To be truly organic, you have to buy organic seed and have a two-year process of cleansing the soil. If you use compost, you have to buy organic bananas to be able to put the skins in your compost pile,” she says. “Most families aren’t growing a truly organic garden, but they can grow an earth-friendly garden.”

And the fruits (and vegetables) of that labor often taste much better than what comes from your neighborhood supermarket. “There’s nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables. And you’re going to eat more of them if they’re right there in the backyard.”

Smart Gardening:

To save your joints, use lightweight Styrofoam or plastic pots for your garden. If they’re big, fill them 1/3 full with Styrofoam peanuts, which will help with drainage and reduce their weight.

Consider raised beds, containers or planting tables to reduce the stress on your knees when digging and weeding.

Grow the varieties from seed that are the most expensive to buy, such as the fancy lettuces (arugula, rainbow chard), heirloom tomatoes and squashes and baby zucchini.

If critters take a liking to your crops, drape netting over your plants to try to keep them out.

Call your county extension office or visit their Web site for information specific to your area, such as optimal planting times, easiest-to-grow crops and watering restrictions, if any.

Easy Crops:

Vegetables and herbs that are fun to grow and produce a good yield, from best-selling author, PBS host and "Today Show" garden expert P. Allen Smith:

Leaf lettuce. My favorites are Buttercrunch and Salad Bowl.

Radishes. There are lots of varieties – I like Cherry Belle.

Green onions. Start from onions plants larger than a dime in diameter.